In addition to improvements to the town’s recreation center, Silverthorne town leaders are looking into other large-scale projects for next year, including an extension of Adams Avenue to Willowbrook Road and an expansion at Trent Park. 

Specifically, the extension of Adams Avenue to Willowbrook Road will create another north-south connection on the west side of Colorado Highway 9.

The town’s transportation master plan has the extension listed as one of several near-term projects that can be completed, and assistant town manager Mike Leidal said that the project would increase the pedestrian and cyclist connections and provide a “very, very important” neighborhood-to-neighborhood connection between residents of the Smith Ranch development and Willowbrook residents without having to access Highway 9.

“There are a lot of advantages to this design because the bus would be able to take the route through here, with the connections to be able to get from Willowbrook to Smith Ranch, Smith Ranch people will be able to get to Trent Park, (and) Willowbrook people will be able to get a (traffic) signal that’s ultimately going to be a Kum-n-Go and to a future grocery store,” he said. 

The price tag for the connection would be between $3 million and $3.5 million, with most of the costs coming from expenses to build a bridge over the floodplain of Willow Creek.

Leidal added that because Badger Road is a local-status road — meaning it has a lot of driveways on it — it makes more sense to connect Willowbrook to Adams since they’re both “collector-status.”

Park expansion

As for the Trent Park expansion, that project would include more parking and a hard-surface pump track — a track for wheeled sports equipment that, when ridden properly, does not require pedalling or pushing, but a “pumping” action to maintain momentum. There are currently no hard-surface pump tracks in Summit County.

There will also be a warming hut, climbing facilities, a multipurpose field, a basketball court and perimeter walking trails. Recreation and culture director Joanne Cook said that the multipurpose field would not be used as a sports field, but the town would likely host other community recreation at the expanded Trent Park.

“I think that’s one of the main things we wanted to see is this is a neighborhood park,” Leidal added. “This, in addition to the existing Trent Park, would help provide amenities to Smith Ranch, Willowbrook (and) all of the surrounding neighborhoods that are here.”

In total, there are approximately 1,000 units that are within a 15 minute walking distance to the expanded Trent Park, Leidal said. Currently, it’s expected that the expansion would cost $2.6 million.

Along with the extension of Adams Avenue and Trent Park expansion, the town is also looking to improve locker room facilities at the Rec Center, expanding the square footage of the family-style locker rooms. Town council members will look toward the upcoming budget planning discussions to finalize funding for the projects, and on Sept. 14, council members approved two grant funding applications for the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund and the Land and Water Conservation Fund to help further fund the improvements.